Hopefully
by Grasspaw
Summary: In which Will steps on his knife, Alyss shows up at Halt and Lady Pauline's apartments wearing nothing but her husband's cloak, and Gilan is in hysterics.


**Hello again. Don't ask me where this came from, because I have absolutely no idea. This was supposed to start out with Gilan running into Will, who's hobbling around on crutches, and then having a laugh at his friend's expense. But, I don't know... This just seemed like so much more fun. I guess this might count as crack? I don't know. I own nothing.**

Gilan sighed and peeled himself up off the couch in Halt and Lady Pauline's living room at the sound of knocking. He rubbed his eyes and staggered towards the door, fighting back a yawn and grumbling to himself.

"No, no, Halt, don't trouble yourself, I'll get the door. I only spent half the morning in a saddle in my nicest clothes so I could get here in time for the wedding... Alyss?"

He blinked in surprise as he opened the door to see, of all people, Alyss Treaty.

He squinted in the dark, then yelped in surprise and scrambled backwards.

She was wearing Will's cloak.

And _only_Will's cloak.

She kept it bunched up around her, doing her best to cover herself as best as she could, but it only reached to her knees and was sliding off one shoulder, and Gilan looked away with his cheeks flaming. What on earth was she doing here?

"IneedtoseePaulinerightnowple aseGil?"

He nodded hurriedly and turned away, saying with his back to her, "There's a blanket on the couch. I think that might... work better..."

He left and practically pounded on the older couple's bedroom door. He could hear Alyss moving around, wrapping the blanket around herself. Hopefully.

Halt opened the door, grumbling. "Gilan, what do you want?" he snapped. He was always irritable when someone woke him up in the middle of the night.

"Halt... Alyss is here."

Halt blinked. "Here? Why?" He attempted to peer around Gilan, but the younger man stepped in front of him.

"Halt," he said warningly. Halt frowned.

"What?"

"She's not wearing anything!" the Ranger hissed. "Just Will's cloak and maybe a blanket! Hopefully."

Halt froze, then slowly turned back to Gilan. "She's not... _what?_"

"Ask Lady Pauline if she has something to wear." Halt nodded and whipped back around, going back into his room. Gilan could hear him conversing in low tones with his wife. He stood there awkwardly, unwilling to turn around and look at Alyss.

The new wife of the man who was almost his brother... was sitting in the living room. Naked.

"Hey, Alyss?" he called, still facing the door.

"Yes?" He could tell nothing from her voice.

"Where's Will?"

"The infirmary."

"Why?"

"He may or may not have stepped on his throwing knife. It was bleeding everywhere and we couldn't get it to stop, so I brought him up here."

Gilan paused, digesting this information. "How on earth did he manage to step on his knife?"

Alyss coughed. "Um... well..."

"Right, right, I won't ask," Gilan said hurriedly, his mind filling in the blanks. "Just... right. Okay. We're good."

At that moment, the door opened and Lady Pauline strode out, wearing her own Courier gown, hastily pulled on, and with another dress draped over her arm. Halt followed, and the two men stood with their backs to the women.

"I'm going to take Alyss into the bedroom to change," Pauline announced, and both men obediently closed their eyes, Gilan covering his with his hands for good measure.

The door closed, and they both looked at each other. Halt raised one eyebrow, and Gilan's eyes were wide as they made their way into the living room.

"So..." Gilan said finally. They could heard movements and lowered voices coming from the bedroom. "Did you hear?"

"Will stepping on his throwing knife? Yes, and I'm so proud of him," Halt said drily.

"What do you think his knife was doing on the floor, anyways?"

Halt shrugged, and at that moment the door opened and Alyss and Lady Pauline emerged. The gown Alyss was wearing was slightly too large, as Pauline was taller and not as slim as the newlywed, but it was much better than Will's cloak.

"Thank you, Halt, Pauline. Sorry, Gilan," she said with a small smile, handing him back the blanket, neatly folded. He accepted it with a nod.

"No problem."

Alyss shrugged elegantly, the movement belying the utter awkwardness she felt. "Right, well, I'm going to go see Will. He's rather upset. Thanks again."

And she left.

Gilan and Halt looked at Lady Pauline, whose lips were twitching despite a valiant effort not to laugh.

"Well?" Halt prompted.

Pauline took a deep breath. "Will steped on his throwing knife."

"So we heard," Gilan said. Halt elbowed him in the ribs, raising his eyebrows at his former apprentice, eyebrows raised.

"Sorry. How?"

"It would seem," Pauline said slowly, "that the last person in their cabin locked the door and then lost the key. So Will had to pick the lock."

"Right..." Gilan said, wondering why on earth the man hadn't resheathed his knife.

Pauline's cheeks reddened slightly, though she still seemed to be fighting back a laugh. "And he was a bit too busy to resheathe it... And he stepped on it."

The two men on the couch took a moment to digest this information, looked at each other, then threw back their heads and roared with laughter.

Well, Gilan roared with laughter. Halt chuckled, then waited until Gilan's laughter had subsided into the occasional giggle.

"So, uh, should we, heh heh, go see him? Or something?" Gilan asked curiously, biting his lip to hold back the guffaw building within him. Halt shook his head.

"I don't think that would be particularly wise."

"Why not?" Gilan asked, and Halt looked at him sardonically.

"If Alyss isn't dressed, what makes you think Will is?"

And Gilan resumed laughing.


End file.
